Tag Archives: Technology

IBM Unveils New Technology to Connect a Smarter Planet

By Guest PostApril 29, 2013Technologyapple, big data, bob s johnson, cleveland, cloud based apps, connect, ibm, ibm messagesight, ibm mobilefirst, idc, m2m, machine to machine, marie wieck, message, mobile, mobile environments, mobilefirst strategy, mqtt, network bandwidth, new data, new technology, ohio, passbook, queuing telemetry transport, smarter planet, Technology, urbancode, websphere, world wide web

New Appliance, Software and Services Extend the IBM MobileFirst Strategy

LAS VEGAS – 29 Apr 2013: IBM’s Smarter Planet strategy took a major technological step forward today with the introduction of IBM MessageSight, a new appliance designed to help organizations manage and communicate with the billions of mobile devices and sensors found in systems such as automobiles, traffic management systems, smart buildings and household appliances.

Over the next 15 years, the number of machines and sensors connected to the Internet will explode. According to IMS Research, there will be more than 22 billion web-connected devices by 2020[i].These new devices will generate more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data every day[ii], while every hour enough information is consumed by Internet traffic to fill seven million DVDs.[iii] (more…)

Bugs produce diesel on demand

By Guest PostApril 27, 2013Environmentbiofuel, bugs produce diesel, carbon dioxide emissions, cell membranes, diesel fuel, drop ins, e coli bacteria, global oil price, global requirement, oil molecules, professor john love, rob lee, shell, shell research ltd, synthetic fuel, Technology, transport fuel, university of exeter

It sounds like science fiction but a team from the University of Exeter, with support from Shell, has developed a method to make bacteria produce diesel on demand.

While the technology still faces many significant commercialisation challenges, the diesel, produced by special strains of E. coli bacteria, is almost identical to conventional diesel fuel.

This means that it does not need to be blended with petroleum products as is often required by biodiesels derived from plant oils. It also means that the diesel can be used with current supplies in existing infrastructure because engines, pipelines and tankers do not need to be modified. Biofuels with these characteristics are being termed ‘drop-ins’. (more…)

Getting to the heart of disease

By Guest PostMarch 29, 2013Healthanti semitism, barry l zaret, by accident, cardiology, coronary disease, coronary physiology, design, evans downing, growth factors, heart of disease, jewish parents, jews, leningrad, lymphatic diseases, lymphatic vessels, massachusetts institute, michael simons, MIT, russia, soviet union, st. petersburg, target cells, Technology, treating cancer, treatment, veins, william grossman, yale

Scientist works toward molecular therapies for cardiovascular diseases

Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, to Jewish parents before the fall of the Soviet Union, Michael Simons, M.D., says a medical career was “sort of a default.” Anti-Semitism barred Jews from many scientific pursuits, so his parents, both doctors, encouraged his interest in medicine as the basis for a strong natural science education.

Simons’ family immigrated to Boston in 1978. Simons had begun a 6-year medical program immediately after high school in Russia, so he was admitted to Boston University School of Medicine as a third-year student, but he chose instead to start anew, as an undergraduate. “I thought, if I continue in a medical program, I’ll forever have an inadequate undergraduate education,” he says, speaking with a mild accent and an understated intensity. (more…)

Tenfold boost in ability to pinpoint proteins in cancer cells

By Guest PostMarch 23, 2013Healthantibodies, array of colors, biology, biomarkers, cancerous, cell behavior, cell function, characteristics, color coding cells, color fluorescence, cyclical testing, diagnosis, fluorescent balls, low ph fluid, molecular level, oncology, pathology, patterns, pavel zrazhevskiy, quantum dots, semiconductor material, single cell, Technology, tissue biopsies, treatment of cancer, university of washington, xiaohu gao

Better diagnosis and treatment of cancer could hinge on the ability to better understand a single cell at its molecular level. New research offers a more comprehensive way of analyzing one cell’s unique behavior, using an array of colors to show patterns that could indicate why a cell will or won’t become cancerous.

A University of Washington team has developed a new method for color-coding cells that allows them to illuminate 100 biomarkers, a ten-time increase from the current research standard, to help analyze individual cells from cultures or tissue biopsies. The work is published this week (March 19) in Nature Communications. (more…)

Big Bang Meets Big Data: South Africa Joins ASTRON and IBM to Build the Foundation for a New Era of Computing

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2013Science, Technology13 billion years, 3d stacked chips, astron, australia, big bang, big data, big data challenge, cognitive systems, computing, dome, drenthe, dutch ministry, economic affairs, exascale computer systems, exascale technology, human capital development, ibm, institute, national research foundation, new era, nrf, radio astronomy, simon ratcliffe, ska, ska phase 2, ska project, South Africa, square kilometer array, Technology, the netherlands

South African scientists to develop rugged microservers to handle the harsh desert conditions, explore new computer architectures and develop advanced algorithms for radio astronomy imaging

Pretoria, South Africa – 11 Mar 2013: Square Kilometer Array (SKA) South Africa, a business unit of the country’s National Research Foundation is joining ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, and IBM in a four-year collaboration to research extremely fast, but low-power exascale computer systems aimed at developing advanced technologies for handling the massive amount of data that will be produced by the SKA, which is one of the most ambitious science projects ever undertaken.

The SKA is an international effort to build the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope, which is to be located in Southern Africa and Australia to help better understand the history of the universe. The project constitutes the ultimate Big Data challenge, and scientists must produce major advances in computing to deal with it. The impact of those advances will be felt far beyond the SKA project—helping to usher in a new era of computing, which IBM calls the era of cognitive systems. (more…)

A Window into Europa’s Ocean Right at the Surface

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2013Scienceastronomer, california institute, chemical environment, chemical exchange, epsomite, europa, frozen exterior, galileo mission, icy moon, jet propulsion laboratory, johns hopkins university, kevin hand, liquid ocean, magnesium sulfate salt, mike brown, mineral, NASA, osiris spectrometer, oxidation, pasadena, potassium chlorides, salty ocean, sodium chloride, spectroscopic feature, surface of jupiter, Technology, voyager

If you could lick the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, you would actually be sampling a bit of the ocean beneath. A new paper by Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and Kevin Hand from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also in Pasadena, details the strongest evidence yet that salty water from the vast liquid ocean beneath Europa’s frozen exterior actually makes its way to the surface.

The finding, based on some of the best data of its kind since NASA’s Galileo mission (1989 to 2003) to study Jupiter and its moons, suggests there is a chemical exchange between the ocean and surface, making the ocean a richer chemical environment. The work is described in a paper that has been accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. (more…)

Comet to Make Close Flyby of Red Planet in October 2014

By Guest PostMarch 7, 2013Scienceapproach to mars, binoculars, california institute, comet 2013 a1, deimos, distant oort cloud, earth, magnitude, mars impact, near earth object, neo program, observatory in australia, outermost moon, pasadena, program, red planet, rob mcnaught, siding spring, solar system, spaceguard, surface, Technology, telescopes, trajectory of comet

Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) will make a very close approach to Mars in October 2014.

The latest trajectory of comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring) generated by the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., indicates the comet will pass within 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) of Mars and there is a strong possibility that it might pass much closer. The NEO Program Office’s current estimate based on observations through March 1, 2013, has it passing about 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) from the Red Planet’s surface. That distance is about two-and-a-half times that of the orbit of outermost moon, Deimos.

Scientists generated the trajectory for comet Siding Spring based on the data obtained by observations since October 2012. Further refinement to its orbit is expected as more observational data is obtained. At present, Mars lies within the range of possible paths for the comet and the possibility of an impact cannot be excluded. However, since the impact probability is currently less than one in 600, future observations are expected to provide data that will completely rule out a Mars impact. (more…)

IBM THINK Exhibit Opens at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2013Technologyandroid tablets, apple ipads, centennial, danielle miller, epcot, florida, flow of data, gesture wall, high school teachers, ibm, ibm think, innovation, innoventions west, lee green, lincoln center, new york, orlando area, Technology, think exhibit app, university high school, walt disney, world resort

Exciting educational experience extends into classrooms with free lesson plans and mobile apps

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – 20 Feb 2013: In celebration of National Engineers Week,IBM teamed up with Orlando-area high school teachers and students today to unveil IBM THINK, a new interactive experience in INNOVENTIONS West at Epcot at Walt Disney World Resort. The 6,600 square-foot interactive exhibit is designed to showcase how the world can work better with the help of technology and innovation. The THINK experience presented by IBM explores how technology transforms the way we live and work. (more…)